There are a lot of songs about London. If a nightingale ever did sing in Berkeley Square, it would soon be drowned out by all the other tunes. This map, from the Literary Gift Company, places a staggering 850 London-themed ditties onto one chart.
All the obvious songs are there. Waterloo Sunset, London Bridge is Falling Down, Lambeth Walk, etc. etc. But with hundreds listed, you're bound to find many that are unfamiliar.
Map compilers Lianne Hall and Geoff Sawers have clearly spent a lot of time over this, including songs that have London locations buried deep in the lyrics.
We initially thought that London is the Place for Me had been randomly placed near Piccadilly Circus, but on looking at the words, we see that Shaftesbury Avenue does get a mention. Likewise, You Can't Always Get What You Want is placed on King's Road, thanks to its name-drop of the Chelsea Drugstore, a trendy boutique that's now a McDonald's.
You can also get into arguments with the map. Pulp's Common People is placed over St Martin's College — a location namechecked in the opening lines. Thing is, the college was based in Holborn at the time of the song, and only moved up to its current home in 2011.
Similar things have been done before but this, if we may borrow from Pulp again, is in a different class. We've now been inspired to track down every one of these tunes and tick them off on the index, handily presented on the reverse.
Songs of London Town is available now for £5.99. It follows on from the literary map of London.
